Infant Program

SELA’s Infant curriculum involves more than just meeting the students’ physical needs. It is based in a very unique curriculum developed by Su Escuela which is then integrated with The Early Learning Guides of Massachusetts.

Each age level (Infant, Toddler, Preschool, Junior K) is divided into 9 different levels, each covering 8 units of study. In this way, each year and throughout the year students are always progressing by consistently being challenged and engaged in the classroom. All units detail the principles of active learning through adult-child interaction, daily schedules and routines, observations, and evaluations of what and how students are learning.

Infant Curriculum

Teachers will welcome their students through an engaging activity that will improve challenges such as positive separation from parents. Social interactions with peers and teachers dictate the process of learning social and problem solving skills. Infants will have many opportunities to explore their social interactions with simple behaviors like rolling a ball back and forth between peers, engaging in cooperative activities such as building a tower of blocks together or acting out different roles during music and pretend play.

Teachers will talk and read constantly to the infants and explain complex situations that arise in books or play. This will help the students fully grasp their acquisition of the language in a seamless manner. In addition to constant verbal communication, Teachers will include new vocabulary throughout the units in the curriculum, building upon words and phrases that the infants have already obtained.

Singing, dancing, and listening to different kinds of music will help students develop their phonological awareness. Teachers will also participate in call and response activities: when students babble, the adults will pause and wait until they are finished speaking and respond to them; in this way the infants begin to learn the patterns of conversation. Blowing bubbles is a simple way to increase pre-literacy and literacy skills (and it’s fun and easy too!). Encouraging students to pick up their cheerios gives them practice with fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination; these skills will come in handy when students begin to learn to hold a pencil!

From a young age, SELA students begin using early math skills throughout their daily routines and activities. This includes counting from 1-5 in daily activities, introducing different shapes, colors, and patterns, as well as the concepts of more or less, in or out, up or down, and clean or messy.

Students will expand their creativity and be able to express and represent what they observe, think, imagine, and feel through artistic expression. By using different tools such as crayons, big brushes, and their hands, they will explore the use of different textures colors. The students will also learn to negotiate working independently and in groups. Exposing children to art activities encourages fine-motor development, hand-eye coordination, imagination, creativity, and cognitive development!

Self-help skills development will enable your child to meet his or her own needs and strengthen behaviors that eventually lead to independence. The main categories are: sitting, crawling, walking, and eating.

Students will develop a sense of self as well as a sense of community: belonging to a group, respecting, and helping each other. Being bilingual will not only help students to learn a second language, but it will also encourage them to communicate his or her emotions in both languages.

Students will work on their gross motor skill development by throwing a ball, catching a ball, crawling, walking, hanging from a bar, sitting, as well as developing an awareness of body parts. Students will refine their fine motor skills by using their fingers to pick up small objects, using paint brushes and big crayons, feeding themselves, opening containers, and cleaning up spills.

Students will begin to recognize music played in the classroom; they will follow along with the songs, sing familiar lyrics, dance according to rhythm, create his or her own songs, and listen attentively to the music.

Students are assessed informally daily. In addition, formal evaluations are completed weekly, monthly (based on units), as well as 3 times per year for Progress Reports. Teachers meet regularly with the Curriculum Coordinator to adjust lesson plans and curriculum to each individual child’s needs.